Adolescence is a developmental period marked by rapid cognitive growth and sensitivity to behavioral and environmental influences. The present study focused on late adolescents (ages 17–19) because core executive functions (EF) are more consolidated yet remain plastic during this stage. EF includes inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility and is important for academic, socio-emotional, and adaptive outcomes.
Physical activity (PA) has been associated with cognitive and EF outcomes in young people through both physiological/neurocognitive mechanisms and the cognitive demands of complex activities. However, the psychological processes that may mediate or moderate PA–EF associations have been less studied. The authors tested a psychological mediation perspective—specifically whether rumination and mindfulness help explain associations between PA_total and an RT-based EF composite.
Rumination was conceptualized as two components: maladaptive intrusive rumination (IR) (involuntary, repetitive negative thoughts that may consume cognitive resources) and potentially adaptive deliberate rumination (DR) (reflective processing that may support problem-solving). Mindfulness was examined as a moderator that might influence PA’s associations with rumination and rumination’s links to EF.
Participants were N = 450 late adolescents (266 males), aged 17–19 years. Measures included self-report assessments of physical activity (PA_total), rumination (IR and DR), and mindfulness. Executive-function performance was assessed using computerized reaction-time tasks: the Flanker task, a 2-back working memory task, and the More–Odd Shifting task. An EF_RT composite was derived from standardized RT-based indicators across these tasks; lower EF_RT values indicate better (faster) RT-based performance.
The analytic approach used structural equation models to test parallel indirect associations from PA_total to EF_RT through IR and DR. Gender was included as a covariate. Moderation was tested by including observed-variable interaction terms to examine whether mindfulness moderated the PA_total → IR and IR → EF_RT paths. Indirect and conditional indirect associations were estimated using bias-corrected bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples.
PA_total showed significant positive total and direct associations with EF_RT. Because EF_RT is a reaction-time-based composite, these positive coefficients indicate higher RT-based scores, reflecting longer reaction times or larger RT costs (i.e., slower or less efficient RT-based task performance), rather than better EF ability.
Parallel indirect associations were observed through both intrusive rumination (IR) and deliberate rumination (DR), indicating that PA_total related to EF_RT in part via both rumination pathways. The manuscript reports that these mediation paths were statistically significant using bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals from 5,000 resamples.
Mindfulness significantly moderated two paths: the PA_total → IR association and the IR → EF_RT association. As a result, the conditional indirect association from PA_total to EF_RT through IR varied across levels of mindfulness. The authors present these moderation effects and conditional indirect estimates in the results, including graphical depictions (figures) and tabulated model parameters.
Gender was controlled in the structural equation models; details of parameter estimates, standard errors, confidence intervals, and model fit statistics are provided in the manuscript tables and figures.
The findings indicate interrelations among physical activity, two forms of rumination, mindfulness, and reaction-time-based executive-function performance in late adolescents. Notably, the direct association between PA_total and EF_RT was in an unexpected direction: higher PA_total associated with slower RT-based performance. The authors caution that because EF_RT is RT-based, positive coefficients indicate longer reaction times rather than stronger EF.
Both IR and DR operated as indirect pathways linking PA_total to EF_RT. The presence of a DR-mediated path is consistent with the view that not all rumination is uniformly maladaptive; deliberate reflective processing may also relate to cognitive outcomes. However, the IR pathway—and its moderation by mindfulness—highlights that involuntary, intrusive thought patterns may consume executive resources and relate to slower RT-based performance, especially at differing levels of mindfulness.
Mindfulness moderated both the association between PA_total and IR and the association between IR and EF_RT, producing conditional indirect effects that depended on mindfulness level. This suggests mindfulness may buffer or alter the cognitive resource impact of intrusive rumination in the context of PA and EF.
The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference. The authors emphasize that findings should be interpreted as associations among measured constructs, not evidence that PA causes changes in EF ability.
In a cross-sectional sample of 450 late adolescents, PA_total, intrusive and deliberate rumination, mindfulness, and an RT-based EF_RT composite were interrelated. Both IR and DR provided significant indirect pathways from PA_total to EF_RT, and mindfulness moderated PA_total → IR and IR → EF_RT links. The unexpected positive PA_total–EF_RT association should be interpreted in light of EF_RT being a reaction-time-based metric (higher scores = slower responses), and not as evidence of improved EF ability.
The authors note the cross-sectional nature of the data, which limits causal interpretation. Details about activity types, intensities, and timing—and how these may differentially relate to EF and rumination—are discussed as areas for future research. The manuscript includes supporting information, figures, and tables containing the full data and analytic details. Further longitudinal or experimental work is needed to clarify directionality and mechanisms linking physical activity, rumination, mindfulness, and executive function in adolescents.